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Profession  of 


FOUR    SERMONS 

11 

f 

for  New  Year  and  Day  of  Atonement 

BY 

RABBI  ISAAC  S.  MOSES 


BLOCH    PUBLISHING    CO. 

NEW   YORK 


profession  of  Jubaism* 


FOUR  SERMONS 


Delivered  on  New  Year's  Eve.  and  Morning,  September  18th 

and  19th,  and  on  the  Eve.  and  Morning  of  the 

Day    of    Atonement,    September 

27th  and  28th,  1895, 


BY 


ISAAC  S.  MOSES, 

Rabbi  of  Kchilaih    Arts/if    Mayriv. 


CHICAGO,  ILL.: 

S.  ETILIXOER  PRINTING  Co. 

1895. 


Stack 
Annex 

00    £ 

Soo 


DEDICATED 

TO 

THE  MEMBERS  OF  KEHILATH  ANSHE  MAYRIV, 

with  Friendship  and  Esteem. 

ISAAC  S.  MOSES. 


I. 

"1FUI  Desperanbum. 


Sermon  For  the  Eve  of  New  Year's  Day. 


Text:    Psalm  xx vii.  14. 

very  hour  a  year  is  passing  out  of  sight, 
•*•  another  is  coming  into  view.  By  the  hallowed 
custom  of  Israel  we  are  gathered  to  solemnly 
bid  farewell  to  the  dying  year,  and  with  prayers  and 
songs  welcome  the  new-born  messenger  of  eternity. 
Though  time  and  space  are  limitless  and  measure- 
less, yet  to  man  is  given  the  power  wherewith  to  set 
bounds  to,  and  divide  time  from  time,  and  to  poise 
his  mind  in  space.  While  the  seasons  wax  and 
wane  and  the  suns  complete  their  cycles  in  never- 
varying  monotony,  man  reads  ever  new  meaning 
into  the  processes  of  nature,  and  from  youth  to 
age  spells  his  moods  into  the  speeding  orbs.  To 
childhood's  fancy  time  seems  endless,  hours  are 
days,  and  days  years ;  to  advancing  manhood  and 
womanhood  time  comes  with  quickened  pace,  and 
every  changing  season  is  an  invitation  to  pause  and 
to  meditate,  to  look  backward  and  forward  ere 
the  journey  is  resumed;  and  when  the  sunset  glow 
of  old  age  heralds  the  approaching  night,  the 


b  "NIL    DESPERANDUM. 

natal  hour  of  <a  new  year  vibrates  with  forebodings 
of  eternity.  Our  joys  and  our  sorrows,  our  suc- 
cesses and  our  failures,  our  victories  and  our  de- 
feats, all  the  manifold  experiences  of  our  life,  are 
reflected  from  the  mirror  of  time. 

To  many  of  us,  the  past  twelve  months  have 
been  full  of  sad  experiences,  full  of  trials  and 
visitations.  Stern  and  harsh  reality  thwarted 
many  a  noble  purpose  and  turned  gladsome  hope 
into  grief  and  sorrowing.  Many  of  us  have  seen 
how  perishable  are  all  earthly  treasures,  how  frail 
mortal  strength,  how  insecure  is  the  tenure  of  life. 
Here  the  tender  bud,  the  fragrant  blossom,  is 
chilled  by  the  early  rime,  there  the  strong,  fruit- 
bearing  tree  is  uprooted  by  a  passing  storm.  \Ve 
look  around  about  us  on  this  night  of  remem- 
brance with  tear-bedimmed  eyes,  ior  many  a  place 
is  vacant,  many  a  seat  is  empty.  With  loving 
memory  we  linger  on  some  sacred  spots  where, 
o'ershadowed  by  willow  and  monument,  the  deal- 
ones  sleep  in  eternal  rest.  And,  oh,  how  many 
have  passed  through  experiences  compared  with 
which  death  would  be  a  welcome  redeemer  !  "The 
heart  knoweth  the  bitterness  of  the  soul,  and  no 
stranger  can  share  its  sorrow/'  Few  there  are  of 
maturer  age  who  can  look  back  upon  the  past  year 
without  a  sigh.  It  has  not  brought  the  fulfilment 
of  wishes  cherished  at  its  entrance;  our  prayers 
tonight  ascend  in  quest  of  the  same  blessings  wlm-h 
we  craved  a  year  ago. 

This  sadder  mood  is  but  natural  when  we  con- 
template the  tleetness  of  time  ;  but  is  it  also 


"  NIL   DESPERANDUM.  7 

reasonable?  Has  the  past  year  brought  us  only 
sorrow,  and  not  also  joy?  Why  strike  these 
minor  chords?  Why  not,  rather,  touch  the  more 
joyous  strains,  and  the  sweeter  melodies  of  life? 
"There  is  a  soul  of  good  in  things  evil,"  and  no 
tear  that  is  shed  but  wakes  a  flower  to  gladden  our 
heart.  This  is  the  message  of  the  dying  year,  this 
its  parting  benediction.  "Remember,"  it  says  to 
those  who  sigh  and  groan,  "the  gifts  I  have  brought, 
not  Avhat  I  have  taken  away."  In  your  eager 
quest  after  happiness  you  have  often  sped  by  and 
left  behind  the  blessings  of  peace,  the  joys  of  home, 
the  ties  of  friendship;  and  now,  deceived  by  the 
mirage  of  an  Eden  of  delight,  you  imagine  that 
before  you,  almost  within  reach,  stands  the  Tree  of 
Life  whose  fruit  shall  fill  your  soul  with  bliss.  But 
the  vision  is  deceptive  and,  like  the  horizon,  it 
recedes  at  your  approach.  Look  behind  you  and 
behold  the  faces  of  your  dear  ones,  the  eyes  that 
beam  with  love  for  you,  and  give  thanks  to  Him 
who  guides  and  rules  our  destiny,  for  the  untold 
riches,  for  the  priceless  treasures  of  love,  of  faith- 
fulness, of  friendly  sympathy,  for  the  uplifting  and 
protecting  influences  by  which  you  are  surrounded. 
Yes,  gratitude,  this  should  be  the  first  note  in  the 
symphony  of  praise  with  which  to  greet  the  new 
year.  Ungrateful  is  he  who,  on  the  threshold  of 
a  new  year,  can  think  only  of  the  losses  he  has 
sustained  and  not  also  remember  the  moments  of 
victory,  the  hours  of  triumph.  Does  not  every 
day,  by  the  faithful  fulfilment  of  our  duty,  bring 
to  us  a  harvest  of  peace,  the  joy  of  reward  ?  Every 


"NIL   DESPERANDUM/' 

earnest  work,  every  honest  endeavor,  bring  in 
their  wake  a  divine  compensation.  No  victory 
without  battle,  no  triumph  without  sacrifice. 
Tears  are  the  dew-drops  that  refresh  the  arid  soil; 
k>8S  and  grief,  pain  and  sorrow,  are  the  seed- 
germs  out  of  which  must  grow  the  fruit  of  char- 
acter. They  know  not  the  depth  of  their  own  soul, 
nor  the  majesty  and  dignity  of  their  manhood 
and  womanhood,  who  have  never  tasted  of  the 
1  titter  cup  of  life,  who  have  never  looked  into  the 
grim  and  stern  face  of  sorrow.  Let  us  remem- 
ber the  Talmudic  injunction:  "It  is  the  duty  of 
man  to  thank  (iod  for  evil  tidings  as  well  as  for 
good."  Gratitude  is  the  fragrance  that  sweetens 
every  adversity,  it  is  the  perfume  of  our  happiness. 
Thanks  be  to  him  who  lias  preserved  our  lives 
and  the  lives  of  our  dear  ones,  who  has  surrounded 
us  with  His  mercies  that  from  o'ur  abundance  we 
could  relieve  the  sufferings  of  others,  that  we  could 
bring  light  to  homes  that  were  shrouded  in  dark- 
ness; thanks  also  for  t lie  shadows  that  tell  across 
our  thresholds;  thanks  for  the  knowledge  of  our- 
selves which  the  past  year  has  taught  us. 

And  now.  as  we  turn  to  welcome  the  new  year, 
another  message  divine  sounds  within  our  hearts: 
— 'T>e  strong  and  of  good  courage:  hope  thou  in 
the  Lord."  Gratitude  lor  the  past,  courage  for  the 
piv-nit.  \\"t-  are  combatants  on  the  battle-field  of 
life.  To  the  young  and  to  the  careless,  life  s«'cms 
a  baii'|ueting-hall  ;  the  invited  guests  are  welcomed 
by  the  smiling  host  :  pleasant  conversation,  delight- 


"  NIL   DESPERANDUM."  0 

ful  music,  tempting  viands — all  devices  and  charms 
of  refined  taste — lend  their  aid  to  make  the  heart 
glad,  to  fill  the  mind  with  joy.  Real  life  does  not 
bear  out  this  enchanting  picture.  To  the  great 
multitude  that  people  the  globe,  life  is  a  fierce 
struggle  for  existence,  a  continual  combat.  How 
few  are  they  who  can  live  without  toil,  and  appar- 
ently pursue  a  path  of  pleasure  without  concern 
for  their  daily  needs  !  And  is  not  toil  but  another 
word  for  struggle?  It  is  the  organized  and  sys- 
tematized warfare  of  man  against  nature,  and  man 
against  man.  No  more  with  cruel  weapons  of 
brutal  force  does  the  individual  man  face  his  foe, 
but  with  the  subtle  and  cunning  devices  of  industry 
and  enterprise,  with  capital  and  contract,  is  the 
cruel  war  carried  on.  Our  civilization  is  the  result 
of  a  thousand  forces  warring  against  each  other. 
Class  against  class,  interest  against  interest,  nation 
against  nation,  stand  in  hostile  array,  ready  to 
snatch  from  the  competitor  the  bread  of  life.  As 
in  physical  warfare,  so  in  all  struggles  and  issues 
of  life,  personal  courage  is  the  first  and  chiefest 
element  of  victory.  To  stand  firm  and  undismayed 
amidst  the  terrors  of  death-dealing  shafts;  to  hear 
imterrified  the  cannon's  roar,  the  explosion  of  pro- 
jectiles; to  behold  without  Avincing  the  fall  of 
comrades  and  friends,  yet  all  the  while  discharging 
his  duties,  obeying  the  sound  of  command,  unmind- 
ful of  the  fate  that  may  befall  him — this  quality  of 
courage  marks  the  hero  on  the  battle-field ;  and  the 
secret  of  this  courage,  the  soul  of  such  heroism,  is 
not  indifference  to  death  or  danger,  but  enthusiasm 


10  "  NIL    DESPERANDUM. 

for  duty,  the  firm  resolve  to  do  and  to  dare  the 
hour's  bidding.  Victory  or  defeat  are  only  inci- 
dents, not  incentives,  of  true  heroism.  In  the 
hard  and  cruel  struggle  of  life,  in  the  midst  of  a 
hostile  world— danger  lurking  at  our  feet,  treachery 
lowering  over  our  heads, —such  courage  must  be 
the  virtue  to  strengthen  our  hearts.  What  is 
courage?  The  knowledge  of  our  ability  and  re- 
sponsibility, the  consciousness  of  our  duty  to  our- 
selves and  to  those  dependent  on  our  care,  the 
thought  of  honor  and  of  honesty,  the  voice  of  our 
conscience  and  our  conviction — all  these  divine 
impulses  will  make  us  strong  and  fearless,  firm  and 
faithful  in  the  fulfilment  of  our  assigned  task  of 
life.  No  matter  how  high  or  low  the  rank  we  fill, 
how  important  or  insignificant  the  post  we  occupy, 
h.->w  great  or  how  small  the  success  we  achieve,  if 
in  the  performance  of  our  duty  we  are  guided  and 
influenced  by  this  voice  divine,  ours  is  the  crown  of 
heroism,  the  laurel  of  victory.  "Do  thy  duty,  tide 
what  may,"  is  the  charge  of  this  hour.  The  world 
cannot  give  nor  take  away  the  soul's  true  greatness. 
What  is  not  within  us  is  worthless  tinsel.  The 
gain  of  the  year  and  the  years,  what  is  it  compared 
with  the  ln'iui's  noUrnrss  and  the  sold 's  freedom ? 
Though  the  heavens  fall  and  the  earth  tremble,  the 
man  of  courage  will  stand  erect,  with  eye  direeted 
toward  the  polar  star  of  duty.  "I  will  kill  thee," 
said  the  master  to  Kpirtitus,  his  slave.  "Thou  canst 
not  kill  me,"  was  the  answer,  "though  thou  mayest 
choke  this  body."  The  chains  of  iron  do  not  en- 
slave, nor  does  the  writ  of  freedom  give  liberty  ;  the 


"NIL   DESPERANDUM."  11 

courageous  man  alone  is  free,  though  wasting  in  the 
dungeon.  To  have  gained  this  priceless  gift  of 
courage,  and  to  take  with  us  over  the  threshold  of 
this  new  year  the  knowledge  of  our  worth,  and  the 
consciousness  of  our  duty,  is  the  realization  of  the 
psalmist's  promise  of  God's  blessing:  "Be  strong 
and  of  good  courage,  for  He  will  strengthen  thy 
heart;  hope  thou  in  the  Lord." 

Yea,  hope  for  the  future.  Dark,  like  this  moon- 
less night,  the  future  spreads  before  us.  Who  can 
tell  what  awaits  him  in  the  fields  and  valleys  be- 
yond ?  A  step  forward  and  he  may  be  hurled  into 
the  abyss  yawning  before  his  very  feet.  While  we 
are  dreaming  of  coming  success,  we  are  perhaps  even 
now  caught  in  the  net  of  misfortune.  Our  finely 
spun  devices,  our  subtle  speculations,  and  even  our 
more  cautious  plans,  how  suddenly  may  they  be 
overturned  by  an  unforeseen  event !  We  live  today  ; 
others  who  have  been  with  us,  dear  and  near,  have 
been  unexpectedly  called  away.  Do  we  know  how 
long  we  shall  be  permitted  to  look  into  the  faces  of 
our  dear  ones,  to  rejoice  in  their  joy,  to  help  them  in 
their  struggles?  Life,  health,  riches,  position,  the 
esteem  of  our  fellow- men — how  often  do  we  see 
them  vanish  like  a  dream  of  the  night  ?  He  who 
sets  his  heart  on  them  must  not  repine  at  the  dis- 
enchantment. Hope  is  spun  of  stronger  thread  than 
the  cobwebs  of  vain  ambition.  It  is  the  heart's 
power  to  penetrate  the  invisible  future  and  read  by 
the  strong  light  of  faith  the  story  of  its  destiny.  To 
hope  means  to  see.  This  is  the  kinship  of  the  word 


12  "NIL    DESPERANDUM." 

in  Hebrew  and  in  Roman  tongue.  This  great  world 
around  us  in  which  we  live,  is  not  a  soap-bubble  of 
chance,  and  human  destiny  not  a  meaningless* 
outcome  of  stupid  fate.  Divine  wisdom  and  divine 
love  are  the  active  and  conscious  forces  in  the  life 
of  matter  and  of  man.  Nothing  happens,  all  is  de- 
termined. Whatever  is  in  harmony  with  the  divine 
plan  must  prosper ;  whatever  is  discordant  in  the 
heavenly  music  must  perish.  If  we  are  true  to  our 
inward  Voice  of  right,  if  by  our  toil  we  contribute  to 
the  triumph  of  justice,  the  dominion  of  love,  the 
sovereignty  of  truth,  we,  ourselves,  inscribe  our 
names  in  the  Book  of  Life,  and  with  the  eye  of  hope 
we  behold  the  signs  and  promises  of  a  higher 
destiny.  To  live,  to  eat,  to  dream,  to  die,  these  arc 
vain  endeavors.  To  toil  for  truth,  to  strive  for 
wisdom  and  for  virtue,  to  be  a  co-worker  with  God 
in  shaping  human  character,  these  are  DO  phan- 
tasms of  dream-land,  these  are  no  childish  longings 
born  of  desire  and  consumed  in  yea  ruing;  such 
hopes  are  anticipations  of  truth,  fore-knowledge  of 
eternity.  Not  what  may  happen  but  what,  by 
God's  will,  must  happen,  is  the  vision  and  inspira- 
tion of  true  hope. 

Therefore,  friends,  fear  not,  tremble  not,  despair 
not!  The  future  can  hold  no  terror  for  us:  our 
destinies  are  in  (Sod's  hand.  He,  who  from  multi- 
tudes of  ills  lias  saved  us,  through  sickness  and 
through  sorrow  has  home  us,  He  will  strengthen 
our  soul,  and  courageously  we  shall  take  up  anew 
our  life,  and  cheerfully  pursue  its  course  to  the  goal 
which  He  has  destined  for  us.  Thus  shall  we  be 


"  NIL    DESPERANDUM."  13 

sanctified  and  consecrated  for  the  year  that  now 
awaits  us.  Ennobled  through  gratitude,  strength- 
ened with  courage,  and  uplifted  by  hope,  we  bid 
welcome  to  the  new  year  and  what  it  brings  to  us. 
And  with  Go3the's  master-song,  as  rendered  into 
English  sound  by  Carlyle's  muse,  we  repeat: 

The  future  hides  in  it 

Gladness  and  sorrow  ; 

We  press  still  thorough. 
Naught  that  abides  in  it 
Daunting  us,     onward ! 
And  solemn  before  us 

Veiled  the  dark  portal ; 

Goal  of  all  mortal : — 
Stars  silent  o'er  us 
Graves  under  us  silent. 
While  earnest  thou  gazest, 

Comes  boding  of  terror,         t 

Come  phantasm  and  error  ; 
Perplexing  the  bravest 
With  doubt  and  misgiving. 
But  heard  are  voices, 

Heard  are  the  sages, 

The  worlds  and  the  ages  : 
' '  Choose  well ;  your  choice  is 
Brief  and  yet  endless." 
' '  Here  eyes  do  regard  you 

In  eternity's  stillness ; 

Here  is  all  fullness, 
Ye  brave  to  reward  you  ; 
Work,  and  despair  not !  " 

And  to  you  all  may  the  greeting  in  the  quainter 
Jewish  form,  be  my  benediction : — H31t3  rMtfb 
"Dron  Unto  a  Happy  Year  shall  ye  be  written. 
Amen . 


II. 

ft  be  purpose  of  Xife. 


Morning  Sermon  for  the  New  Year's  Day. 


Text:  Deut  xxx.  15.  See,  I  have  set  before  thee  this  day  life 
and  good,  arid  death  and  evil:  in  that  I  command  thee 
this  day  to  love  the  Lord,  thy  God,  to  walk  in  His  ways  and 
to  keep  His  commandments.  I  call  to  witness  against  you 
this  day  heaven  and  earth,  that  I  have  set  before  you  life 
and  death,  blessing  and  curse;  therefore  choose  life. 


T^O  CHOOSE  is  man's  prerogative.  All  creatures 
below  him  must  follow  the  bent  of  their 
nature  ;  he  alone  is  free  to  choose  between  right  and 
wrong,  good  and  evil.  That  we  may  choose  life 
and  not  death,  blessing  and  not  curse,  is  the  urgent 
call  of  the  New  Year's  Day.  Life,  li/e,  fuller,  larger 
life,  is  the  dominant  note  in  the  weird  and  varied 
melody  of  this  day's  prayers:  "Remember  us  unto 
life,  0  thou  King  who  delightest  in  life,  and  inscribe 
us  in  the  Book  of  Life."  But  what  is  life  ?  What  is 
its  meaning,  what  its  goal  ?  Is  life  but  duration  in 
time,  expansion  in  space,  or  is  there  in  all  functions 
and  faculties  a  purpose  to  be  realized,  an  end  to 
be  reached?  This  is  the  question  which  each  New 
Year's  Day  puts  to  the  thoughtful.  To  have 


16  THE   PURPOSE   OF  LIFE. 

added  another  year  to  the  number  of  those  that 
preceded  it,  and,  in  that  measure,  to  have  come 
nearer  the  inevitable  end  awaiting  everything  that 
breathes  on  earth,  is  a  thought  not  calculated  to  wake 
within  us  sentiments  of  joy  and  gratitude.  It  is 
different  when  the  pulses  of  youth  beat  within  us. 
and  the  charms  of  existence  have  not  yet  lost  their 
spell.  Then  to  Invathe  is  pleasure,  to  roam  about  in 
field  and  forest,  on  mountain  peak  or  flower-covered 
vale,  is  delight  unspeakable.  Every  season  is 
fraught  with  new  blessings,  every  year  is  the  har- 
binger of  new  hope.  The  brief  past  appears  glori- 
fied in  memory's  mirror ;  golden  the  future  lies  be- 
fore us;  the  heart  is  filled  with  undaunted  courage, 
the  soul  beholds  visions  of  daring  deeds ;  grand  ideals 
loom  up  before  the  mind.  Let  us  not  begrml 
swiftly  passing  youth  this  entrancing  dream:  soon 
enough  come  the  bitter  disillusions  of  life. 

In  the  whole  range  of  nature  below  man  the  pur- 
pose of  life  seems  clear  and  easily  reali/.ed.  When 
spring-time  comes  the  sleeping  plants  awake  and 
unfold  their  leaves;  the  flowers  lift  their  tiny  beads 
toward  the  sun  and  drink  in  ligh:  and  dew  from  the 
heavens  above:  they  bud  and  blossom  and  spread 
their  fragrance  abroad;  and  when  winter  storms  sweep 
over  the  earth,  they  wither  and  die — they  have 
aeromplished  their  appointed  task.  So  all  children 
of  nature  come  and  '-ro  to  do  their  Masier's  bidding  ; 
they  hear  within  themselves  the  law  of  their  com- 
pleteness. Man  alone  feels  his  incompleteness. 
He.  of  all  creatures,  is  imperfect.  When  the  year 
is  done  and  he  counts  up  his  achievements  and 


THE   PURPOSE   OF   LIFE.  17 

his  successes,  what  is  there  that  is  left  on  which 
his  eye  can  dwell  with  satisfaction  ?  From  mom 
to  night,  from  youth  to  age,  he  toils ;  and  when 
the  eventide  of  life  silently  and  solemnly  ap- 
proaches, how  many  are  there  who,  artist-like,  can 
lay  aside  their  tools  and  look  contentedly  on  the 
work  done,  and  lie  down  to  peaceful  slumber? 
Shall  we  say  that  human  life  has  no  purpose? 
Shall  we  repeat  with  the  cynic  and  the  pessimist  that 
life  is  an  evil,  existence  a  curse,  and  death  the  end 
of  all?  This  day  brings  to  us  a  more  cheerful 
answer  than  barrenness  and  despair.  The  Shofar's 
sound  wakes  within  us  a  higher  thought  than 
death  and  destruction.  This  day  teaches  us  the 
meaning  of  the  Psalmist's  prayer  :  "  Give  me  un- 
derstanding that  I  may  live."  To  live  wisely  and 
intelligently,  to  grow  in  goodness  with  the  advanc- 
ing years,  and  to  be  an  instrument  for  good  in  the 
lives  of  others,  to  further  every  high  endeavor, 
every  noble  enterprise,  is  to  fill  out  the  frame-work 
of  our  life  with  blessing,  to  endow  our  existence 
with  aim  and  purpose. 

By  the  inspiration  of  this  day  you  will,  no 
doubt,  give  assent  to  this  definition  of  life.  In  the 
glare  and  the  hurry  of  the  daily  routine,  another 
theory  prevails.  For  most  men  the  purpose  of  life 
is  neither  intellectuality  nor  goodness,  but  enjoy- 
ment. They  are  painfully  conscious  of  the  brevity 
of  existence,  the  insecurity  of  possession.  With 
the  air  of  superior  wisdom  they  proclaim:  "Know- 
ledge is  weariness  of  the  soul ;  there  is  nothing 
better  for  man  than  to  enjoy  this  life,  and  let  no 


18  THE   PURPOSE    OF   LIFE. 

pleasure  escape  him,  for  there  is  no  remembrance 
in  the  grave  whither  we  go."  The  falacy  of  this 
argument  becomes  apparent  when  we  test  it  by  the 
capacity  of  human  nature  for  enjoyment.  For  that 
nature  is  so  constituted  that  the  pleasures  ofyes- 
t  en  lay  become  insipid  today;  the  most  coveted 
treasures  lose  with  their  novelty  also  their  attrac- 
tiveness. He  who  makes  pleasure  the  object  of  his 
life  soon  ends  by  loathing  it.  In  the  ratio  as  we 
grow  older,  we  become  more  indifferent  to  the  en- 
joyments which  in  youth  filled  out  our  whole  soul. 
The  mind  alone  cannot  be  satiated.  ••The  eye  is 
never  satisfied  with  seeing,  nor  the  ear  with  bear- 
ing." The  soul  cannot  be  overfed;  if  not  neglected 
it  grows  yountrer  and  stronger  with  increasing  age. 
Every  year  must,  therefore,  be  a  step  forward  and 
upward  on  the  road  of  knowledge.  If  we  do  not 
grow  wiser  as  we  grow  older,  our  advancing  age 
would  testify  only  to  decay  and  decrepitude;  for 
there  is  no  standstill  neither  in  nature  nor  in  man. 
He  who  does  not  advance,  recedes,  he  who  does 
not  grow  upward,  grows  downward.  Years  must 
tell  not  of  the  approaching  end  but  of  richer  ex- 
perience, clearer  conceptions,  broader  views  of 
life.  Each  New  Year's  Day  not  only  reminds  us 
of  the  lleetness  of  time  hut  also  of  the  law  of  our 
being  that  demands  unfolding  of  our  powers, 
moral  growth,  intellectual  proure-.-;. 

It  is  thus  that  the  New  Year's  Day  becomes  a 
day  of  judgment  :  for  it  summons  us  before  the 
court  of  our  conscience  to  render  account  to  our- 
.-el\e-  of  what  we  done  with  the  time  and  the 


THE   PURPOSE   OF   LIFE.  19 

opportunities  given  us  ;  whether  we  have  advanced 
spiritually  or  whether  we  have  moved  around  in  a 
circle,  and  are  here  today  with  the  same  narrowness, 
the  same  prejudices,  the  same  hatreds  which 
clung  to  us  a  year  ago.  It  asks  us  to  testify  for 
or  against  ourselves  whether  we  have  become  more 
of  man  and  less  of  animal. 

The  way  of  life  has  often  been  compared  to  an 
ascent  to  a  mountain  peak.  The  higher  we  rise  the 
purer  is  the  air  we  breathe,  the  wider  the  outlook  we 
have.  The  petty  divisions,  the  little  obstacles,  dis- 
appear, and  we  look  down  upon  a  complete  land- 
scape. Having  advanced  in  life,  can  you  testify 
of  yourself  that  you  breathe  a  purer  air  intellect- 
ually? Is  your  heart  free  of  unworthy  desires,  of 
degrading  avarice,  of  mean  vindictiveness  ?  Have 
you  acquired  the  habit  of  looking  upon  man  and 
mankind  with  a  kindly  eye,  striving  to  find  in  each 
the  better  and  nobler  trait  instead  of  discovering 
their  weakness,  their  smallness  ?  Do  you  see  in  the 
struggles  and  toils  of  your  fellow-beings  something 
worthy  of  your  sympathy  and  benevolence?  If  not, 
in  what  consists"  the  gain  of  the  years,  the  fruitage 
of  age,  the  profit  of  life  ? 

Our  time  is  accustomed  to  estimate  man  by  less 
ideal  measures  ;  material  advantage  seems  to  be  the 
standard  of  worth,  and  a  false  conception  of  science 
comes  to  lend  emphasis  to  this  view  of  life.  Man  is 
not  a  progressive  being,  but  a  creature  of  habit,  it  is 
alleged ;  he  can  do  things  well  only  by  repetition ; 
and  the  success  of  our  civilization  consists  in  appor- 
tioning to  each  man  a  certain  limited  work.  To  be 


20  THE   PURPOSE    OF   LIFE. 

a  successful  business  man  one  must  exclude  from 
the  range  of  his  thought  and  ambition  everything 
that  does  not  tend  directly  to  further  his  interests ; 
with  the  regularity  and  punctuality  of  a  clock  he 
must  complete  his  daily  work.  Man  is  thus  de- 
graded to  a  machine  which  performs  mechanically 
its  appointed  task.  Let  us,  for  the  sake  of  argu- 
ment, make  use  of  this  simile.  Man  is  a  machine, 
but  there  is  this  difference  that  he  feels  the  pang  of 
hunger  and  thirst  and  will  provide  food  to  nourish 
the  body,  garment  to  clothe  it  and  roof  to  shelter  it. 
\Vithoiit  this  effort  on  his  part,  the  activity  of  the 
human  machine  will  soon  come  to  an  end.  .lust 
think  of  the  stupendous  task  of  man  to  keep  this 
machinery  in  motion  ;  think  of  the  bushels  of  corn 
and  wheat  to  he  ground  and  baked  into  bread  that 
he  may  eat  ;  of  the  flocks  and  herds,  of  birds  and 
fishes  that  are  to  be  transmuted  into  blood  and 
muscle,  the  sheep  that  must  give  their  fleece  that 
he  may  be  clothed,  and  all  the  thousandfold  activi- 
ties and  professions  brought  into  play,  simply  to 
sustain  life — a  whole  lifetime  of  work  in  order  to 
live!  And  is  this  all?  Is  there  not  something 
missing?  To  eat  in  order  to  live,  to  live  in  order  to 
eat.  is  this  all  there  is  of  life?  Think  of  a 
machine  which  would  require  train-loads  of  coal  and 
re-ervoirs  of  water  to  produce  and  maintain  a  high 
pressure  of  steam,  hundreds  of  skilled  hands  to  feed, 
regulate  and  control  it.  of  iron  arms  moving  forward 
and  backward  to  set  in  motion  hundreds  of  wheels 
driven  by  connecting  bands;  think  of  the  din  and 
of  revolving  wheels,  the  shriek  of  the  steam 


THE    PURPOSE    OF    LIFE.  21 

whistle  announcing  the  beginning  and  close  of  work, 
— and  then  imagine  that  while  all  this  is  going  on 
the  huge  machinery  is  running  empty,  the  finely 
constructed  mechanism  transforming  no  raw  ma- 
terial into  ready  fabric.  Would  you  not  declare  this 
machinery  useless,  and.  him  who  puts  it  in  motion 
to  be  void  of  sense?  Let  us  even  suppose  a  machine 
so  ingeniously  constructed  as  to  produce  its  own 
fuel  and  run  without  human  attendance,  yet  pro- 
ducing nothing  else  that  could  be  converted  into 
value.  Would  you  not  declare  this  to  be  a  profitless 
undertaking?  And  are  not  the  lives  of  most  men 
spent  in  such  useless  work?  Feeding,  feeding, 
FEEDING,  producing  strength  to  produce  again  only 
food  and  converting  it  into  nothing  else  but  what 
will  sustain  animal  life — can  you  call  this  life?  Is 
it  not  death,  mental,  moral  and  spiritual  death?  If 
the  human  machine  is  to  be  of  any  value,  it  must 
produce  something  else  beside  bread  ;  it  must  pro- 
duce thought,  ideas  and  ideals ;  it  must  produce 
goodness,  helpfulness,  sympathy,  kindness ;  it  must 
give  us  a  rich  output  of  love,  reverence,  gratitude  ; 
it  must  provide  a  large  stock  of  ennobling  beauty, 
of  uplifting  melody,  consoling  hope;  it  must  tend  to 
give  to  life  spiritual  dignity,  intellectual  com- 
pleteness, fullness,  in  a  Avorcl  to  bring  it  into 
harmony  with  the  higher  plan  and  thought  of  God. 
But  man  is  not  intended  to  be  a  machine,  he  shall 
rise  to  moral  freedom  and  not  do  things  by  routine 
and  habit,  but  thoughtfully  and  advisedly,  changing 
methods  with  motives  to  accomplish  a  higher  good. 
It  is,  therefore,  no  mere  figure  of  speech  when 


22  TIIK    IM'KI'OSK    OF    LIFK. 


Scripture  charges  us  to  rhooxr  life  and  not  death, 
•rood  and  not  evil.  Behold  !  l>oth  are  he  lore  us. 
and  every  Ne\v  Year's  Day  ought  to  rouse  within 
us  the  firm  determination  to  produce  something 
of  spiritual  worth,  which  shall  last  heyond  the  time- 
limit  allotted  tons  on  earth.'  To  him  who  chooses 
such  a  lite.  age  is.  indeed,  a  crown  of  glory.  and 
the  increasing  years  bring  a  harvest  of  Messing: 
yea,  blessing  not  only  to  him.  hut  through  him 
also  to  others. 

No  one  can  live  for  himself,  independent  of  the 
lives  and  labors  of  others.  However  callous  one 
may  seem  to  he  to  the  interests  of  others,  he  will 
.still  care  for  their  good  opinion  of  him.  and  would 
not  like  to  hear  himself  spoken  of  as  one  utterly 
useless  to  the  world,  one  whose  demise  would 
not  in  the  least  he  felt  as  a  loss,  who  would  not 
he  missed  nor  mourned  nor  kindly  remembered. 
And  so.  many  do  some  good  even  against  their  in- 
clination. simply  not  to  forfeit  the  respect  of  their 
fellow-men.  \Ve  have,  each  of  us,  our  natural 
sphere  of  work  and  usefulness,  and  many  who  do 
their  nearest  duties  conscientiously  do  perhaps  more 
for  the  blessing  of  the  world  than  the  professional 
philanthropists  and  noisy  benefactors;  because  it 
ia  not  merely  a  o^ie-iion  of  work  but  of  usefulness. 
\Vhom  have  we  limrliiti'il  by  our  activity,  whose  life 
has  been  l>l<'*t  by  mir  endeavor,  who  has  been  made 
hi-tlrr,  nobler,  wiser,  by  our  example  and  influence? 
this  must  be  the  measure  of  our  work  and  not 
merely  the  fact  that  we  have  been  doing  something, 
or  trying  to  do  something,  outside  of  our  business 


THE    PURPOSE    OF    LIFE.  23 

interests.  A  close  examination  might  reveal  the 
unpleasant  truth  that,  instead  of  a  blessing  we  have 
been  a  curse  to  others,  instead  of  helping  we  have 
been  hurting  their  moral  nature,  instead  of  doing 
good  we  have  been  doing  harm  to  lives  depending 
upon  our  wisdom  or  wealth.  Ah,  we  sometimes 
are  tempted  to  doubt  the  sanity  of  the  human  in- 
tellect when  we  see  men  who  by  a  word  could  make 
thousands  happy,  by  a  generous  deed  would  arouse 
to  noble  emulation  hundreds  waiting  for  an  ex- 
ample; men  whose  knowledge,  experience  and 
worldly  means  would  enable  them  to  lead  the  way 
for  others  in  matters  that  must  bless  the  living 
generation  and  those  that  will  follow,  but  who  will 
do  none  of  these  things ;  they  let  the  opportunity 
slip  by;  they  waste  and  fritter  away  their  energies 
in  small  and  worthless  pursuits,  born  of  vainglory 
and  nourished  by  subbornness.  And  what  should  we 
think  of  those  who,  instead  of  increasing  human  hap- 
piness and  raising  human  dignity  and  honor,  bend 
their  utmost  to  lay  snares  and  traps  for  their  fellow- 
men,  to  gain  advantage  by  others'  misfortune,  or  to 
enjoy  the  proud  feeling  of  their  own  importance  by 
wreaking  vengeance  for  imaginary  wrongs,  and  re- 
veling in  the  unhappiness  brought  upon  others  ? 
Is  such  a  life-work  worthy  to  be  called  human? 

If  there  be  any  within  this  house  today  who  have 
made  no  better  use  of  their  time  and  opportunities 
than  to  be  a  scourge  to  others,  let  the  Shofar's 
sound  arouse  within  their  souls  the  sense  of 
remorse  and  repentance,  so  that  this  day  may  be- 
come a  turning-point  in  their  lives  for  good  ;  indeed 


•2  I  TIIF.  rrid'osK  OF  i, IKK. 

the  beginning  not  only  of  a  new  year,  but  of  a  new 
life,  a  more  helpful,  useful  and  fruitful  life  than 
the  one  they  have  led  till  now.  Every  day  is  a  gift 
of  grace,  a  new  opportunity,  to  change  the  follies  of 
youth,  the  failures  of  manhood,  the  fastidiousness 
of  age  into  earnest,  conscientious  work,  into  strong, 
purposeful  activity,  into  loving  and  encouraging 
example  for  the  blessing,  the  spiritual  growth  of  our 
fellow-men.  Let  us  then  avail  ourselves  of  this  new 
offer  of  time.  As  we  pray  today.  "Remember  us  unto 
life,"  let  us  in  the  coming  year  so  interpret  it  by  our 
deeds  that  it  may  prove  to  be  a  blessing  and  not  a 
curse,  good  and  not  evil,  both  unto  us  and  unto  those 

who  shall  be  blessed  through  US.       Amell. 


III. 

lpatboloo\>  of  Sin. 


Sermon  for  the  Eve  of  the  Day  of  Atonement. 


Text:    Exodus  xv.  26. 

"I  "HE  analogy  between  the  ills  of  the  body  and  the 
ills  of  the  spirit  has  often  been  pointed  out; 
and  the  phrase,  "A  physician  of  the  soul,"  is  more 
than  a  happy  comparison.  Not  only  does  the  soul 
suffer  when  the  body  is  racked  with  pain,  but  the  re- 
verse is  true :  mental  suffering  produces  bodily  ill- 
ness. Care  in  the  heart  of  man  will  bow  down  his 
physical  frame;  fear  or  remorse  will  shatter  his 
nerves  and  undermine  his  health.  It  is  no  wonder 
jihat  in  primitive  society  when  arts  were  few  and  the 
sciences  undeveloped,  that  religion  assumed  the 
function  both  of  priest  and  of  physician,  even  as 
today  among  savage  tribes  the  medicine-man  is 
also  the  spiritual  adviser.  As  mankind  rose  from 
savagery  to  civilization,  division  of  labor  lightened 
each  toiler's  work  and  made  possible  the  present 
gigantic  progress  in  science,  art,  literature,  religion 
and  government.  Medicine,  freed  from  the  tram- 
mels of  theology,  has  indeed  become  the  deliverer  of 


26  THE   PATHOLouY    oK   SIN. 

mankind  from  ills  which  a  mistaken  notion  of  re- 
ligion held  as  the  special  domain  of  divine 
interference.  To  the  physician,  rather  than  to  the 
priest,  the  modern  man  looks  for  salvation,  and  puts 
a  trust  in  medical  science  far  stronger  than  he 
places  in  the  assurances  of  religion. 

It  is  only  very  recently  that  a  hetter  method  of 
treatment  has  been  accorded  to  those  unfortunate 
ones  in  whom  the  light  of  reason  has  liecome 
dimmed.  Insanity  is  considered  no  more  a  divine 
visitation,  or  a  possession  hy  an  evil  spirit,  hut  as 
a  bodily  sicklies.  Still  wider  and  wider  grows  the 
sphere  of  medical  science.  It  now  draws  within 
its  domain  the  vast  number  of  criminal  phenomena, 
and  endeavors  to  prove  that  vice,  too,  is  a  bodily 
di>ease,  either  by  heredity,  or  as  a  form  of  atavism 
to  primitive  savagely.  Psychology  has  dropped 
its  sceptre  of  supremacy;  physiology  is  the  <|iieen 
to  whom  medical  science  pays  homage. 

And  yet,  there  are  diseases  which  bailie  the  skill 
of  the  physician,  maladies  for  which  medical  scieiu  e 
has  no  remedy,  cancerous  growths  which  the  phy- 
sicist's scalpel  cannot  remove.  Sin  is  a  sickness 
that  is  not  catalogued  in  the  physician's  hand-book  ; 
wickedness  is  a  wound  which  the  surgeon  cannot 
heal;  pas-ion  is  a  disease  for  which  no  I'asteur  has 
yet  discovered  an  antidote.  Tim  stricken  soul  can 
find  remedy  only  at  the  hand  of  a  physician  who 
does  not  come  with  microscope  and  chemical  retort. 
with  tinctures  and  with  to.xines.  but  with  the  heal- 
ing grace  of  divine  truth.  Religion  is  the  physician 
whom  (Jod  has  sent  to  restore  and  preserve  our 


THE    PATHOLOGY   OF  SIN.  2V 

moral  health.  As  to  ancient  Israel  so  to  us  comes 
the  divine  promise  :  "  If  thou  wilt  listen  to  the 
voice  of  the  Lord,  thy  God,  and  will  do  what  is 
right  in  His  sight,  and  wilt  give  ear  to  His  com- 
mandments and  keep  all  His  statutes,  all  the  dis- 
eases which  I  have  brought  on  the  Egyptians  I  will 
not  bring  upon  thee,  for  I  am  the  Lord,  that  healeth 
thee." 

To  no  physician  is  given  a  more  difficult  task 
than  awaits  him  who  assumes  to  speak  in  the  name 
of  God,  and  to  point  out  the  remedy  for  our  moral 
and  spiritual  ailments.  To  the  sufferer  in  body  the 
physician  is  a  welcome  visitor.  He  looks  up  to  him 
with  confiding  trust.  From  his  features  he  reads 
hope  of  recovery  or  tidings  of  despair.  In  most 
cases  the  patient  is  deeply  conscious  of  his  malady  ; 
if  not  of  the  nature  and  cause  of  his  trouble,  at  least 
of  the  fact  that  he  needs  the  physician's  help.  Not 
so  is  it  with  him  in  whose  soul  sin  has  found  en- 
trance, whose  spirit  is  attacked  by  moral  disease, 
whose  better  nature  is  being  sapped  by  an  evil 
passion.  He  is  not  conscious  of  any  ailment,  and 
indignantly  will  resent  the  imputation  that  he 
belongs  to  the  morally  diseased  and  stands  in  need 
of  spiritual  treatment.  Like  the  mentally  deranged, 
he  labors  under  the  delusion  that  not  he,  but  the 
physician  is  the  one  who  requires  medical  aid.  If 
he  be  a  man  of  power  and  influence,  he  will  use 
proper  measures  to  prevent  any  undue  interference 
with  his  spiritual  affairs  ;  he  will  see  to  it  that  the 
officious  disciple  of  religion  he  silenced  and  taught 
to  know  his  place.  But,  as  a  true,  honest  and  faith- 


28  Tin:   PATHOLOGY  OF  six. 

ful  physician  who  cares  for  the  health  of  the  patient 
more  than  for  the  fee  he  may  receive,  and  will  stand 
abuse  and  taunt  rather  than  humor  the  delusion  of 

his  patient,  so  he  who  has  heen  charged  with  the 
solemn  task  of  beinir  a  physician  of  the  soul,  must 
speak  the  word  of  (iod  fearlessly  and  truthfully, 
and  show  not  only  the  nature  of  the  evil  hut  point 
out  its  remedy. 

Scripture  repeatedly  refers  to  the  disea-e<  which 
prevailed  in  K.irypt.  and  from  which,  through  obedi- 
ence to  the  divine  command.  Israel  may  escape. 
Now,  what  were  these  diseases?  Had  we  no  other 
sources  of  information  rej^ardinjr  ancient  Kirypt  than 
those  incidents  and  references  associated  with  the 
story  of  Israel  as  recorded  in  the  Bible,  we  would  bo 
in  a  position  to  reconstruct  or.  at  least,  to  sketch  a 
Sufficiently  distinct  picture  of  the  civili/.ation.  the 
power,  the  wi.-doin  and  the  grandeur  of  that  ancient 
empire.  But  of  late  a  host  of  scholar-  have  been  at 
work  to  solve  the  riddle  of  the  sphinxes,  to  make 
them  tell  their  story.  With  infinite  pains  and 
patience  they  have  spelled  into  intelligent  articula- 
tion the  tongue  of  the  Pharaohs  and  have  enriched 
the  libraries  of  modern  nations  with  the  valuable 
literature  of  the  dwellers  of  the  Nile-valley.  The 
student  is  thus  enabled  thoroughly  to  under- 
stand the  delicate  hint- of  the  Bible  as  to  the  di- 
of  Iv_fypt.  They  were  many,  subtle  and  grievous  ; 
not  without  strong  resemblance  to  the  ills  of  our  own 
Rge.  To  heifiu  with,  the  social  .-tructmv  of  Jv_'ypt 
w.-i-  laid  on  the  broad  basis  of  human  slavery. 
This  term  must  be  taken  in  its  broader,  not  it-  spe- 


THE   PATHOLOGY    OF   SIN.  29 

cific  meaning ;  not  merely  slavery  of  certain  indi- 
viduals purchased  for  money  or  acquired  through 
warfare,  but  the  enslavement  of  the  masses,  the 
systematic  oppression  and  exploitation  of  that  large 
and  hroad  volume  of  population  constituting  in  very 
deed  the  people  of  the  land.  Society  was  divided 
into  castes  which  it  was  impossible  for  the  individual 
to  overleap — the  priesthood,  the  warriors,  the  arti- 
sans, the  agriculturists,  the  herdsmen  ;  all  these 
classes  were  kept  separate  from  each  other  as  if  they 
belonged  to  different  nations.  It  is  almost  impossi- 
ble for  a  modern  man  to  measure  the  intensity  of 
pride  with  which  the  upper  classes  looked  upon  the 
lower,  and  the  utter  disregard  for  the  welfare  and  the 
destiny  of  those  underneath  them.  The  conception 
of  a  common  humanity  was  as  strange  and  as 
foreign  to  the  minds  of  the  ruling  classes  as  it  is  a 
familiar  truth  with  us.  In  such  a  social  system  the 
stranger  or  the  foreigner  could  find  no  other  place 
than  that  of  abject  servitude.  To  royalty  and  the 
ruling  classes,  what  meaning  had  the  word,  "The 
right  of  man  ?  "  Human  material  was  cheap  ;  it 
had  no  other  function  than  to  serve  and  to  be  wasted 
in  the  interest,  or  for  the  glory,  or  the  whim  of 
those  in  power.  Callousness  and  indifference  to  the 
needs  and  faculties  of  millions  of  human  beings, 
gross  selfishness  and  heartlessness  in  the  presence  of 
wide-spread  suffering  and  distress,  are  they  not  evil 
diseases,  incurable  maladies,  festering  wounds, 
vitiating  and  poisoning  the  body  politic? 

Hand    in    hand   with    this  abuse   of    power,   and 
virtually  an  outcome  of  it,  went   the  corroding  and 


30  TIIK    !'ATIlo].o<.Y    OK    siv 

corrupting  abuse  of  wealth,  seeking  satisfaction  in 
lavish  display  and  luxury,  and  in  the  voluptuous- 
ness of  pleasure,  passion  and  vi'-e.  Oh,  the  physi- 
cians of  Kirypt  could  write  very  interesting  hooks  for 
the  polite  society  of  their  times,  vyinir  in  suhtle  sug- 
L'estiveness  or  nude  realism  witli  the  literary  pro- 
ductions  of  the  latest  French  school.  Culture  and 
corruption,  refinement  and  rottenness,  were  almost 
synonyms.  Social  position  was  a  beautifully  (lee- 
orated  garment  for  public  wear,  covering  a  multitude 
of  sins  that  had  to  shun  the  li<_rht  of  day.  In  the 
higher  circles  of  Egyptian  society  it  betokened  a 
lack  of  breeding  to  measure  men  and  women  by 
the  hard  and  harsh  rules  of  an  antiquated  morality 
that  demanded  purity,  chastity,  fidelity,  honesty. 
truthfulness,  justice.  Such  a  perversion  of  the 
simplest  and  most  natural  laws  of  virtue  could  not 
fail  to  work  havoc  with  the  physical  health  of  those 
noble,  hi-,'1  i-l  torn,  well-bred  and  corre  •1-nianneivd 
ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  upper  four  hundred  of 
Kiryptian  capitals.  The  Hiblical  writer  undoubtedly 
had  access  to  reports  of  very  instructive  and  often 
very  strange  complications  of  clinical  experience. 
Out  of  such  knowledge  he  could  well  advise  his 
simple-hearted,  untutored  shepherds  to  take  heed 
of  tin;  manners  of  lv_ryptians.  not  to  imitate  their 
doings,  that  they  may  escape  all  the  diseases  that 
C  put  upon  Iv_'ypt. 


Another    evil   of   F/_'ypt  was    a   LM'OSS  abuse  of  reli- 
gious   power    and    or^mi/ation.     The    priesthood   of 
bad    evolved   a    hu.ire    and   sombre     theology 


TIIK    PATHOLOGY    OF    SIX.  31 

which,  like  some  submarine  monster,  sin-cad  its 
polypous  arms  over  all  relations  of  lite  and  held  in 
abject  thralldom  the  minds  of  the  people.  Nowhere 
has  the  religious  instinct  of  man  produced  such 
grotesque  and  abnormal  shapes  of  worship  as  in 
the  land  of  the  Pharaohs.  The  deification  of  animals 
had  been  carried  to  such  an  unnatural  degree  that 
one  might  well  question  the  sanity  of  minds  bending 
in  adoration  before  crocodile,  bull  or  cat.  But 
when  we  read  of  the  wisdom  of  the  ancient  Egyptian 
priesthood;  when  we  study  their  works  on  medicine, 
astronomy  and  geometry:  when  we  discover  that 
they  were  in  possession  of  scientific  truths  which 
for  thousands  of  years  had  been  unknown  to 
mankind,  and  only  lately  been  re-discovered  by  the 
master  minds  of  the  new  time,  we  must  reject  the 
idea  of  their  religious  insanity,  and  can  account  for 
that  strange  aberration  of  worship  only  by  the  as- 
sumption that  the  priesthood  consciously  and  pur- 
posely cradled  the  public  mind  in  gross  supersti- 
tion, that  thereby  they  might  retain  their  power 
and  influence  over  the  people.  These  sages  of  old 
said  to  themselves,  For  us  wisdom,  for  the  people 
ignorance;  for  us  light,  for  the  masses  darkness; 
for  us  the  joy  and  gladness  of  knowledge,  for  the 
multitude  the  fear  and  gloom  of  superstition.  The 
consequence  of  such  a  position  was  a  wide-spread 
and  far-reaching  system  of  hypocrisy.  The  ex- 
pounders of  religion  were  the  most  irreligious  ;  the 
teachers  of  faith  were  the  foremost  infidels;  the 
servants  of  God  were  the  most  servile  of  men.  For 
hypocrisy  is  the  mother  of  immorality.  It  creates 


32  THE    rATIloj.oUY    OF    six. 

a  douhle  standard  of  rectitude,  one  for  the  public 
eye,  and  one  when  secure  against  exposure.  IIvpoc- 
risy  chokes  conscience  and  deadens  sell-respect.  It 
silences  the  voice  of  self-examination  and  self- 
reproach.  It  courts  public  opinion  and  is  ready  to 
sacrifice  the  truest  interests  of  mankind  to  puhlic 
clamor.  It  worships  today  at  the  altar  of  fashion  ; 
it  casts  into  the  mire  the  idol  of  yesterday.  What 
is  honesty,  truth,  prohity,  loyalty,  friendship,  to 
the  hypocrite  ?  lie  who  has  not  the  fear  of  ( iod  in 
his  heart,  who  does  not  helieve  in  the  truth  which 
he  professes  with  his  lips,  has  lost  the  sei 
honor;  he  cannot  respect  the  hone-t  opinions  of 
others,  he  despises  the  upright  man  and.  in  fact, 
holds  in  contempt  all  those  who  strive  to  live  a 
higher  life;  the  successnil  knave  is  his  ideal  man; 
the  hrute  is  his  (Jod,  dirt  his  deity,  dust  his  -oal. 
Tell  me  of  a  disease  which  is  more  danirenuis  and 
contagions  than  hypocrisy!  It  poisons  the  very 
marmw  of  our  moral  nature  and  -uakes  us  incapahle 
of  withstanding  the  ravages  of  sin.  or  of  recovering 
from  the  torpor  of  vice. 

Over  against  these  diseases  of  Kirypt  Mo-.-s  con- 
structed his  irrcat  sy.-tem  of  Israel's  common- 
wealth, resting  it  on  equality  of  human  rights,  on 
the  diirnity  of  human  life,  on  the  sanctity  of  the 
human  soul;  protesting  anainst  the  enslavement  of 
man  l»y  hrother-man  :  hcdirhiLr  the  ritrht  of  ))o.~-  B- 
siou  hy  so  many  pre  -ant  ionary  measures  that  no 
avaricious  and  inancuverini:  land-shark  could  swal- 
low up  the  poor  man's  property  :  surroundin.tr 
domestic  life  hy  so  many  laws  of  purity  that  wealth 


THE    PATHOLOGY    OF    SIN.  33 

could  tend  only  to  the  sanity  not  the  debauchery  of 
the  body;  and  teaching  a  God  whose  essence  is 
truth,  whose  garment  is  righteousness,  and  who 
reveals  Himself  to  man  as  the  highest  reason  and 
deepest  love.  The  Mosaic  system  of  religion  is  a 
radical  cure  for  all  these  social  diseases.  It  lias 
proved  its  efficacy  in  the  life  of  Israel;  it  has  pro- 
duced a  people  sound  and  strong  in  body  and 
soul,  a  people  that  could  withstand  and  outlive  the 
poison  of  ages,  the  contagion  of  corrupt  nations. 
Well  could  this  shepherd  law-giver  of  Sinai  exhort 
those  who  had  been  slaves  to  the  Egyptians,  "If  ye 
will  hearken  to  my  commands  and  will  obey  the 
statutes,  and  will  listen  to  the  voice  of  God,  the 
diseases  of  Egypt  shall  have  no  power  over  you,  for 
the  God  of  Israel,  He  is  thy  physician." 

This  long  exposition  of  the  faults  and  foibles  of 
an  ancient  civilization  may  perhaps  have  taxed  your 
patience  tonight,  and  probably  you  question  its 
relevancy  to  the  solemn  business  before  us.  But  to 
him  who  can  look  away  from  his  own  personal 
interests,  the  vision  of  the  past  holds  out  the  mirror 
of  the  present,  and  in  the  sins  and  the  sufferings  of 
past  ages  he  discovers  the  signs  and  tokens  of  the 
approaching  doom.  "History  repeats  itself"  is  a 
trite  adage,  but  a  true  one.  Does  not  our  civiliza- 
tion show  the  most  alarming  symptoms  of  the  evils 
and  the  diseases  of  Egypt  ?  We  have  fought  for  the 
emancipation  of  the  negro,  but  the  enslavement  of 
the  masses  by  our  modern  industrial  system  threat- 
ens to  become  a  plague  worse  than  ever  befell  the 


•".  I  THK     r.\THo|.o<,y    «'K    SIX. 

birth -place  of  .Moses.  No  servitude  so  oppressive  as 
the  monotonous  drudgery  of  the  modern  toiler,  -.vho, 
feeding  the  machinery  of  a  huge  system,  becomes 
himself  only  a  machine,  at  best,  a  •'hand"  that  is 
hired  and  discharged  without  consideration  for  the 
welfare,  the  fate,  the  future  of  his  human  being. 
Allured  by  higher  wages,  multitudes  throng  the  in- 
dustrial centers  where,  by  their  numbers,  they 
depress  the  prices,  and  arc  cast  out  as  so  much 
material.  The  economic  and  moral  injury 
wrought  by  the  sudden  discharge  of  large  numbers 
is  never  thought  of  by  those  who  plan  and  direct. 
A  cut-throat  competition,  cruel  and  relentless  as  ever 
was  sav;ige  warfare,  makes  commercial  life  in- 
secure and  often  dishonest,  and  robs  the  honest  toiler 
of  the  joy  of  as-ured  and  steady  employment.  And 
the  outcome  of  this  universal  slavery,  this  deadening 
drudgery  of  modern  industrialism?  Is  it  greater 
comfort,  inereased  happiness,  higher  culture,  better 
morals?  No.  The  result  of  all  this  "progiv- 
the  accumulation  of  huge  fortunes  in  the  hands  of 
few.  of  tremendous  wealth  under  the  control  of  a 
few  cunning  and  unscrupulous  minds.  Were  the 
history  of  some  of  the  great  fortunes  of  this  country 
to  be  written,  it  would  be  more  interesting  literature 
than  the  detective  stories  ofConan  Doyle.  Wealth 
has  ever  been  the  craving  of  men;  but  while  in 
former  Mu'es  it  wa-  a<-oej;tted  with  regal  power,  fol- 
lowed in  the  foot-tcps  of  the  coni|tieror,  or  was  a 
reward  of  valoroii<  deeds  by  a  loyal  nobility,  it  is 
today  solely  the  result  of  financial  manipulations  or 
legislative  corruption.  \\Vre  ]  to  choOM  between  a 


THE    PATHOLOGY    OF    SIX.  6O 

king  by  the  grace  of  God  and  a  king  by  the  grace  of 
railroad  bonds  and  stock  jobbing,  I  would  ever 
prefer  the  crowned  and  sceptered  ruler.  The  aristo- 
cracy of  birth,  which  is  also  often  of  culture  and 
merit,  is  infinitely  superior  to  an  aristocracy  of 
wealth  gotten  in  a  hurry,  often  by  unrighteous 
methods,  to  be  waste  fully  and  sinfully  spent,  or  to 
be  lavished  in  the  purchase  of  titles  from  an  effete 
foreign  nobility.  And  the  consequence  of  this  idola- 
try of  wealth  in  the  higher  classes  is  a  maddening 
hunger  for  enrichment  in  all  strata  of  society  below. 
Corruption  is  the  disease  that  eats  away  the  vitals  of 
the  body  politic.  To  make  as  much  as  possible 
within  the  brief  tenure  of  office,  is  the  sole  ambition 
of  him  who  pretends  to  serve  his  country  or  his  city. 
Nor  is  the  vile,  dishonest,  corrupt  politician  con- 
demned and  despised  in  the  measure  of  his  com- 
mitted thefts.  Public  opinion  applauds  the 
successful  scoundrel  and  condemns  only  him  who  has 
so  clumsily  conducted  his  affairs  as  to  fall  into  the 
toils  of  the  law.  And  as  it  is  with  public  honesty, 
so  with  private  virtue.  The  diseases  of  Egypt  are 
holding  high  carnival  among  us.  To  live,  to  live 
much,  to  live  high,  to  enjoy  within  the  briefest  time 
as  much  as  money  can  purchase,  is  the  popular  and 
acknowledged  theory.  The  old  ideals  are  laughed  at 
as  Sunday-school  morality  ;  the  sequel  to  the  mar- 
riage vow  is  played  before  the  appreciative  ears  of 
the  divorce  court.  In  this  terrible  quest  for  pleasure, 
born  of  avariciousness.  even  the  arts  are  degraded, 
and  the  .  stage,  instead  of  being  a  pulpit  for  the 
masses,  has  become  a  panderer  to  vile  excitement. 


36  THK    l'ATIIo|.o<;Y    OF    SIN. 

The  heart  Tunis  no  rest,  the  soul  no  pence;  from 
pleasure  to  pleasure.  from  excitement  to  excitement. 
man  rushes  on.  until  his  nervous  system  irives  way 
under  the  terrihle  strain.  No  wonder  that  a  writer 
like  Max  Nonlau.  feelini:  the  pulse  of  modern  so- 
ciety, declares  it  sick  and  sore  from  head  to  foot. 
diseased  and  degenerate. 

Whence    shall      liealillL'    come?       Are     the     sources 

of  salvation  dried  up?  Has  religion  ceased  to  he  a 
physician  of  the  soul?  No.  The  anirel  of  (!od 
comes  with  the  same  message  as  of  old,  hut  his 
voice  is  not  heeded,  lie  is  not  believed.  Blinded 
in  the  chase  after  p>ld  and  dust,  our  a i_re  cannot  see 
the  beauty,  cannot  perceive  the  <_do,y  of  true  re- 
ligion. To  must  people  religion  means  profession 
of  creed,  acceptance  of  dogmas,  performance  of  cere- 
monies, chanting  of  SOULS,  sinpinir  of  praises.  To 
build  Lror.Lreous  churches  and  to  Bather  within  their 
walls  the  most  "respectable"  people,  is  the  ambi- 
tion «>f  the  pious.  That  religion  is  infinitely  more 

than    w 1    or  stone;   that  religion  means   rLditenus- 

helpfulness.  kindness,  love,  they  cannot  see. 
For  them  religion  is  an  institution  and  not  an  in- 
spiration :  it  is  a  convenient  method  and.  perhaps, 
a  cheaper  one  than  the  policeman's  cudgel,  to  keep 
in  check  the  unruly  masees.  With  the  utmost  care 
and  caution  explode.]  theories  and  unintelligible 
doctrines  are  taiiudit  and  traditions  fostered,  as  if  on 
belief  in  them  depended  man's  happiness  here  and 
hereafter.  They  who  (each  and  they  who  arc; 
taught  feel  in  their  heart  of  hearts  the  fallacy  of 
their  position;  but  religion  is  fashionable,  and  lends 


THE   PATHOLOGY   OF   SIN.  37 

respectability ;  it  is  a  good  introduction,  and  may 
help  business.  What  is  to  such  men  the  voice  of 
conscience?  What  the  fearless  utterance  of  the  man 
of  truth?  Let  the  prophet  take  heed  of  his  life; 
let  him  not  speak  the  terrible  .truth,  they  care  not  to 
listen.  Let  him  speak  sweet  things,  pleasant  words  ; 
let  him  conjure  up  beauteous  pictures  of  humanity's 
greatness  ;  let  him  hold  up  the  mirror  of  heroic 
deeds  of  the  past,  of  the  nobleness  of  lives  that  have 
been.  But  let  him  beware  of  touching  on  the  prac- 
tical affairs  of  life,  the  nature  of  which  he  does  not 
understand ;  lest,  if  he  persist,  he  will  draw  upon  him- 
self the  encomium  of  being  "unpopular";  one  who 
cannot  win  the  affection  of  the  influential  members 
of  the  church  and  deserves,  therefore,  to  be  kicked 
out  of  the  sphere  of  his  work. 

But,  friends,  if  religion  is  to  be  not  a  mockery  and 
self-delusion,  not  a  farcical  show  of  vainglory,  not 
the  childish  display  of  our  petulancy  or  stubborn- 
ness :  if  religion  is  to  bring  to  us  indeed  the  healing 
balm  of  God's  grace,  it  must  enter  into  all  and 
every  relationship  of  life  ;  it  must  make  our  lives 
pure,  truthful,  noble;  it  must  take  out  the  heart  of 
stone,  the  callous,  indifferent  soul  and  place  in 
its  stead  a  heart  full  of  sympathy  with  the 
sufferings  of  others,  of  brotherly  love  and  helpful- 
ness for  the  needs  of  others ;  it  must  make  us 
earnest,  self-respecting,  conscientious  men  and 
women  who  care  not  for  the  approval  or  disap- 
proval of  public  opinion  unless  their  own  conscience 
confirms  the  verdict.  We  must  cast  away  the  mask 
of  hypocrisy  and  self-complacency,  and  lay  our  souls 


38  THE    PATHOLOGY    OF   SIX. 

open  to  the  influences  and  inspiration  of  religion  ; 
we  must  strive  with  all  our  power  to  be  sincere  with 
ourselves  and  not  beguile  our  conscience  with  the 
pretexts  and  pretences  of  conventionality.  And, 
above  all,  we,  ourselves,  must  become  servants  and 
helpers  of  religion  to  cure  mankind  of  its  social  and 
moral  diseases. 

One  of  the  most  distressing  maladies  of  modern 
times  is  pauperism.  It  is  a  product  of  our  in- 
dustrial system;  it  follows  in  the  wake  of  our 
prosperity  as  shadow  follows  light.  Let  UH  not  de- 
ceive ourselves  by  the  pleasing  compliment  to  our 
charitable  nature  that  occasionally  we  give  alms  to 
the  poor.  The  crumb  of  pity  thrown  away  from 
the  table  of  plenty,  is  no  charity.  True  charity 
means  helpfulness  to  lift  up  the  fallen  brother  and 
put  him  in  a  position  to  be  self-supporting.  Are 
we  doing  our  full  share  of  our  obligation  to  the 
poor? — we  who  through  good  and  evil  times  have 
never  missed  any  of  the  necessities  of  life.  \ve  for 
whom  no  wind  bloweth  but  hringeth  some  good  — 
let  them  who  can,  answer  in  the  allirmative.  As  a 
community,  we  have  not.  To  us  Israelites  has 
fallen  a  double  share  of  duty.  \Ve  pride  ourselves 
that  we  care  for  our  own  poor.  How  do  we  care 
for  them?  That  is  the  question.  Poverty  is  a 
sickness  ot  the  social  body.  The  sick  must  be  ciireil. 
not  pampered  and  not  abused.  If  your  brother  In- 
sick,  will  you  reproach  him?  Will  you  boiler  at 
him?  Hut  if  our  poor  brother  comes  with  pitiful 
mien,,  asking  for  assistance,  we  have  cruel  rebuke- 


THE   PATHOLOGY   OF   SIN.  39 

and  little  help  for  him.  The  contributions  to  our 
United  Hebrew  Charities  are  so  utterly  inadequate 
to  the  demand  made  upon  our  office  that  the  very 
help  we  extend  becomes  a  new  source  of  irritation. 
When  year  after  year  the  most  urgent  appeal  is 
made  for  larger  contributions,  it  is  only  a  few  who 
respond  handsomely — by  no  •  means  generously. 
The  vast  majority  of  the  better  situated  turn  a  deaf 
ear  to  all  entreaties ;  they  shirk  their  duty,  and  with 
the  paltry  sum  which  they  subscribe,  they  pose 
before  the  world  as  benefactors.  Some  have  even 
succeeded  in  working  up  a  reputation  for  being 
charitable.  Years  ago,  when  but  moderately  pros- 
perous, they  had  a  heart  for  suffering  humanity  ; 
they  gave  generously,  even  out  of  proportion  to 
their  wealth.  Now  God  has  blessed  them  in  such 
a  measure  they  hardly  know  how  rich  they  are.  they 
have  become  suspicious  of  the  claims  of  the  poor, 
and  consider  every  appeal  for  help  as  a  design  to 
rob  them.  Still  they  walk  about  with  the  com- 
placency of  saints,  and  ease  their  conscience  by  the 
memory  of  their  past  generous  acts.  Or.  perhaps, 
they  contemplate  doing  some  good  in  the  distant 
future — when  they  shall  have  no  use  or  opportunity 
for  the  means  at  their  disposal.  The  hungry  and 
naked  must  be  fed  and  clothed  now,  and  not  a  gen- 
eration hence ;  the  sick  and  the  suffering  must  be 
cared  for  now,  and  not  when  they  shall  be  no  more 
on  earth.  To  refuse  aid  when  it  is  in  our  power  to 
give  it,  to  shut  our  heart  against  the  pitiful  cry  of 
the  unfortunate,  to  thwart  by  our  niggardliness 
every  thorough,  systematic,  radical  cure  of  pauper- 


40  THE    PATHOLOGY   OF   PIN. 

ism  in  our  midst,  betokens  a  depraved  nature,  a 
morally  diseased  and  degenerate  soul,  insensible  to 
the  touch  of  humanity. 

By  the  beautiful  and  hallowed  custom  of  this 
community,  the  annual  collection  for  the  Tinted 
Hebrew  Charity  Association  will  now  be  taken. 
Let  me  this  time  not  have  made  a  vain  appeal. 
Clause  your  contributions  not  by  the  example  of 
your  neighbor,  but  according  to  the  measure  in 
which  (!od  has  blessed  you.  and  by  the  dictates  of 
your  conscience  do  your  full  duty.  Of  such  large- 
hearted,  wisely  administered  benevolence,  the 
Scriptural  phrase  is  true:  "Charity  delivereth  from 
death.7'  Yea.  it  delivers  from  the  death  of  meanness 
and  heartlessness.  It  is  the  voice  of  (Jod  speaking 
to  us;  it  is  the  angel  bringing  the  healing  draught  to 
suffering  mankind.  Let  such  charity  be  yours  to- 
night. Then  will  the  gracious  promises  of  Holy 
Writ  be  fulfilled:  uXone  of  the  diseases  which  1 
have  brought  upon  the  Kgyptians  will  I  bring  upon 
thee,  for  1  am  the  Lord  who  healeth  thee."  Amen. 


IV. 

profession  of  Jubaism, 


Morning   Sermon    for  the  Day  of  Atonement. 


Text:  Deut.  x.  12. 

T  T  is  with  considerable  misgiving  that  I  approach 
;  the  subject  of  my  discourse  this  morning.  I 
desire  to  speak  of  Judaism,  its  nature,  the  reasons 
we  have  for  maintaining  it.  What  is  Judaism? 
What  are  its  requirements?  What  our  duties  to  it? 
Is  there  a  more  befitting  theme  for  us  to  discuss  on 
the  Day  of  Atonement  than  this?  And  yet  I  fear 
that  I  am  somewhat  out  of  touch  with  my  audience 
in  selecting  Judaism  for  a  subject.  I  am  well  aware 
of  the  fact  that  with  Jews  Judaism  is  not  a  fashion- 
able subject.  They  are  not  over-fond  of  the  name 
'  'Jew."  They  are  not  given  to  discussing  religious 
topics,  least  of  all  one  which  concerns  them  most. 
Nor  do  they  require  or  expect  the  minister  in  their 
pulpit  to  call  their  attention  to  the  stern,  inevitable 
and,  withal,  not  altogether  pleasant  fact  of  their 
being  Jews.  Still,  if  I  rightly  understand  my  posi- 
tion and  the  name  of  my  office  to  be  a  Rabbi  in 
Israel,  I  feel  it  my  bounden  duty  to  at  least  once  a 

-41— 


42  THE   PROFESSION   OF  JUDAISM. 

year,  when  I  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  all  be- 
fore me,  bring  near  to  your  hearts  the  reasons  why 
we  should  remain  faithful  and  loyal  to  the  religion 
which  we  call  Judaism. 

It  is  not  a  very  pleasant  experience  to  be  told, 
often  with  a  sneer,  that  no  one  exactly  knows 
what  Judaism  is.  The  term  is  surrounded  by  a 
haze,  an  indefiniteness,  that  puz/les  even  the  schol- 
ars and  the  students  of  religion,  if  required  to 
define  with  exactness  the  line  of  demarcation  that 
divides  off  Jew  from  non-Jew.  Were  we  to  ask  the 
large  majority  of  the  civilized  world,  the  preachers, 
teachers  and  professors  of  the  creed  by  which  we  are 
surrounded,  what  Judaism  is,  the  answer  would  not 
long  be  wanting.  "Judaism,"  they  would  say,  "is 
the  religion  of  the  Old  Testament :  Christianity  that 
of  the  New.  Judaism  is  the  old  dispensation  ; 
Christianity  is  the  new  covenant.  Judaism  is  the  re- 
ligion of  law  and  ceremonies:  Christianity  is  the 
religion  of  love.  The  Jew  believes  in  the  Great 
Jehovah,  the  awful,  angry  God,  who  revealed  Him- 
self amidst  the  thunder  and  lightning  of  Sinai,  and 
gave  to  the  people  of  Israel  a  number  of  laws,  pro- 
mising His  protection  as  long  as  they  would  keep 
these  laws,  and  threatening  dire  vengeance  and  de- 
struction if  they  should  venture  to  abandon  or  to 
change  them.  These  laws,"  they  will  tell  us.  "were 
only  tentative,  they  wen-  meant  as  an  education  of 
the  people  for  a  higher  stage;  they  were  only  a  pre- 
paration for  a  faith  that  was  to  come.  It  was  a 
torch  that  should  guide  in  the  wilderness  until  the 
larger  light  would  arise  to  illumine  the  world." 


THE   PROFESSION   OF  JUDAISM.  43 

Judaism  was  only  a  preparation  for  Christianity. 
This  having  come,  the  old  dispensation  was  made 
superfluous  and  ought  to  have  vanished  1800  years 
ago.  All  of  it  which  has  not  disappeared  is  merely 
a  survival  not  of  the  fittest,  rather  the  unfittest,  form 
of  religion.  It  clings  to  the  poor,  misguided,  self- 
deluded  Jews  like  a  hereditary  disease.  It  follows 
them  from  land  to  land,  and  from  nation  to  nation. 
It.  singles  them  out  as  belonging  to  a  peculiar 
people.  It  makes  them  exclusive,  narrow  and,  to  a 
certain  extent,  proud  of  their  past,  and  disables  them 
from  amalgamating  with,  and  assimilating  the 
larger  religious  life  that  is  moving  all  about  them. 
Judaism  is  an  anachronism ;  it  is  out  of  date  and 
place  in  the  modern  intellectual  world.  Strenuous 
efforts  have  been  made,  and  are  continually  made, 
to  persuade  the  Jew  to  give  up  his  old-fashioned, 
worn-out  kind  of  religion.  That  he  is  unwilling  to 
do  so,  and,  despite  the  disadvantages  it  brings  to 
him,  despite  prejudice  and  persecution  that  it  draws 
upon  him,  he  still  continues  to  cling  to  this  time- 
beaten  form  of  faith,  is  evidence  of  something  more 
than  obstinacy  and  stubbornness  on  his  part,  As  a 
class  the  Jews,  both  by  heredity  and  by  training, 
are  mentally  alert,  quick  to  see  the  fallacy  of  a  posi- 
tion that  cannot  stand  the  test  of  reason,  and  are  not 
easily  held  in  moral  or  spiritual  subjection.  If, 
therefore,  the  Jew  persists  in  holding  fast  to  a  re- 
ligious system  which  is  declared  to  be  superceded  by 
a  new  dispensation,  he  must  have  cogent  reasons  for 
doing  so.  These  may  not  be  always  clear  to  his 
consciousness  ;  they  may  be  latent,  dormant  in  his 


44  THE   PROKKSSION    OF   JUDAISM. 

mind,  or  cluster  around  his  affections  and  emo- 
tions. It  ought,  therefore,  to  be  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance to  us  to  make  clear  to  ourselves  these 
reasons  for  our  adherence  to  Judaism. 

Were  we  to  ask  a  number  of  Israelites  to  give  us 
a  definition  of  their  faith,  we  would  receive  as 
many  different  answers  as  there  were  persons  to 
whom  the  query  was  addressed.  You  know  there 
are  various  shades  of  Judaism.  I  do  not  know  to 
which  of  the  different  forms  of  Jewish  faith  you  ad- 
here. Probably  you  never  trouble  your  minds,  nor 
give  any  serious  thought  to  these  matters.  Let  us 
ask  a  staunch  orthodox  Jew  to  tell  us  what  his  Juda- 
ism is.  If  he  does  not  belong  to  the  ignorant, uncult- 
ured class — of  whom  we  have  quite  a  superfluity 
in  our  midst — he  will  tell  us,  that  Judaism  is  the 
covenant  of  God  with  Israel,  made  first  with  Abra- 
ham, repeated  with  Isaac,  confirmed  with  Jacob  and 
completed  on  Mount  Sinai;  that  the  Torah.  or  the 
law  of  Moses,  is  the  unchanging  and  unchangeable 
constitution  of  the  Hebrew  people;  that  on  the  basis 
of  it  they  built  up  a  commonwealth,  established 
themselves  in  a  land  of  their  own.  with  judges,  kings 
and  prophets,  with  a  consecrated  priesthood  and  a 
national  sanctuary  ;  that  all  subsequent  literature 
was  simply  an  amplification  of  the  Mosaic  code, 
that  the  laws  and  enactments  of  the  rabbis  as  laid 
down  in  the  Talmud  and  the  later  casuistic  litera- 
ture, are  the  outflow  of  the  Mosaic  spirit,  and  are 
binding  on  all  Israel,  and  that  to  deny,  or  neg- 
lect them  implies  denial  or  rejection  of  Judaism. 
Through  the  destruction  of  the  Temple  and  the  col- 


THE    PROFESSION    OF   JUDAISM.  45 

lapse  of  the  State,  Israel's  political  life  has  not  been 
annihilated  ;  it  is  only  in  suspense,  and  will,  at  the 
gracious  time  known  by  God,  be  revived  in  its  pris- 
tine beauty  and  glory.  The  Messiah,  the  son  of 
David,  will  lead  the  dispersed  of  Judah  back  to 
their  country,  and  re-establish  the  kingdom  of  Israel 
on  Palestine's  soil.  Whether  this  is  your  faith  or 
not,  I  am  unable  to  determine ;  perhaps  it  is,  and 
you  know  it  not.  I  shall  not  indulge,  however 
tempting  the  opportunity,  in  argument  to  refute  this 
position. 

For  me  Judaism  is  not  a  polity  but  a  faith, 
not  a  contract  or  covenant,  but  a  living  inspira- 
tion, not  a  survival  or  tradition  but  a  development 
and  continual  growth  of  an  original  thought.  How- 
ever misunderstood  by  the  outside  world,  however 
caricatured  by  many  within  the  fold — Judaism  is 
neither  stepping-stone  or  foil  for  Christianity,  nor  is 
it  racial  distinctiveness  and  national  pride,  clustering 
around  bygone  glories  and  shattered  dynasties.  Ju- 
daism is  a  spiritual  force,  a  moral  movement,  a  social 
mixxion.  It  came  into  this  world  not  as  an  invention 
of  priests,  not  as  a  policy  of  kings,  but  as  a  moral 
guide,  a  spiritual  illumination. 

The  difficulty  in  understanding  and  defining 
Judaism  does  not  lie  in  any  mystery  inconceivable 
and  unfathomable,  but  in  its  very  simplicity.  Be- 
cause Judaism  is  a  growth,  and  not  an  invention, 
because  it  is  life,  and  not  theory,  it  requires  a  differ- 
ent measurement  than  dogmatic  faiths  sprung  upon 
the  world  to  meet  a  temporary  need.  We  need  not 
go  far  in  search  of  a  definition  of  Judaism.  The 


46  TIIK   PROFESSION    OF  JUDAISM. 

Master-Builder  who  erected  the  magnificent  system 
of  Israel's  religion,  has  given  us  also  the  key  where- 
with to  open  the  portals  and  to  enter  the  sanctuary. 
Listen  to  the  words  of  the  Great  Teacher,  the  fore- 
most of  all  prophets,  and  you  will  receive  the  de- 
sired information, 

"And  know,  0  Israel,  what  doth  the  Lord 
require  of  thee,  but  to  fear  the  Lord,  thy 
God,  to  walk  in  His  ways;  and  to  love  Him, 
and  to  serve  Him  with  all  thy  heart  and  all  thy 
soul." 

These  are  the  elements  of  true  religion,  these  the 
essential  requirements  of  .Judaism.  To  know  a  re- 
ligion we  must  examine  the  three  great  divisions  of 
which  it  is  composed  and  which  have  here  been  in- 
dicated :  Reverence,  Love  and  Scrritr.  We  may 
translate  these  theological  designations  into  terms 
with  which  the  modern  thinker  is  more  familiar: 
r/iil<>xui>}i//,  Hhicx  and  lliiiiidiiiti/. 

Before  the  tribunal  of  modern  criticism  every 
religion  claiming  the  affection  of  the  men  and  women 
of  our  age,  must  render  account  of  itself  and  prove 
its  justification.  It  is  especially  necessary  and 
wholesome  for  those  who  entertain  the  high  hope 
that  their  faith  is  destined  to  be  the  universal  faith 
of  mankind,  shall  be  sure  that  their  religion  can 
muster. 

As  to  the  philosophy  of  Judaism,  it  is  contained 
in  its  God-idea,  in  its  spiritual  attitude  to  the 
universe.  The  charge  that  is  often  made  by  Christian 
thinkers  against  .Jewish  theology  is  that  of  its 
extreme  poverty  and  fewness  of  thoughts.  With 


THE   PROFESSION   OF  JUDAISM.  47 

some  ancient  Greek  philosophers  modern  theologians 
assert,  that  the  Jewish  mind  was  unable  to  rise  above 
the    thought  of  one  God.     The    Aryan    mind  was 
more  prolific,  and  peopled  the  heavens  with  armies 
of  deities.     Christianity  reduced  them   to  a  trinity. 
It  fructified  and   deepened  the  barren  monotheism 
of  the   Jews  by    bringing   God    in    human    shape 
nearer    to    the   heart    of  man.     And   yet,    whoever 
follows  the  currents  of  thought  as  they  flow  through 
history,    whoever  watches  the  intellectual   struggles 
of  today,    cannot   fail   to  notice    that  the  battle  of 
modern  theology  rages  around  those  very  doctrines 
that   are    so  proudly  placed  in    opposition    to   the 
Jewish    thought;    that    despite   the    alleged    closer 
kinship    with    human    nature,  the   dogmas   of    the 
trinity,  the  incarnate  God,  the  vicarious  atonement, 
are  more  and  more    abandoned  by  the  intellectual 
portion  of  Christianity,  and  that   the  highest  Chris- 
tian thought  as    represented  by  its   great  thinkers, 
poets  and   writers,   runs  in  the  direction  of  Hebrew 
monotheism.     The     literature      of    today     in    the 
lands  of  modern  civilization,    in  Germany,  France, 
England,    America,    betrays    but  feeble    affinity    to 
trinitarian    theology.     It     is     saturated    with     the 
Hebrew  conception  of  the  One  God,  who  is  Father 
of  all  men.     And  today  science  comes  to  corrobo- 
ate  this   ancient  view.     There   is  no  room  in   this 
universe    for  more   than  one  spiritual  force.     Unity 
is  the  principle  underlying  the  whole  cosmic  order  : 
unity  the  purpose   of  all  human  development.     "If 
I  were  asked,"  says  Zangwell   in  his    famous  essay 
on   the   "Position    of  Judaism,"    "If    I   were  asked 


48  THK    PKOFKSSION    OF 


to  sum  up  in  one  broad  generalization  the  intel- 
lectual tendency  of  Israel,  I  should  say  that  it  was  a 
tendency  to  unification.  The  unity  of  God.  which 
is  the  declaration  of  the  dying  Israelite,  is  but  the 
theological  expression  of  this  tendency.  The  Jew- 
ish mind  runs  to  unity  by  an  instinct  as  harmonious 
as  the  Greek's  sense  of  art.  It  is  always  impelled 
to  a  synthetic  perception  of  the  whole.  This  is 
Israel's  contribution  to  the  world,  his  vision  of 
existence.  There  is  one  (!od  who  unifies  the 
cosmos,  and  one  people  to  reveal  Him,  and  one 
creed  to  which  all  the  world  will  come.  In  science 
the  Jewish  instinct,  expressing  itself,  for  example, 
through  Spinoza,  who  seeks  for  "One  (Jod,  one 
Law,  one  Element:"  in  aesthetics  it  identifies  the 
true  and  the  beautiful  with  the  good  ;  in  politics 
it  will  not  divide  the  Church  from  State,  nor  secular 
history  from  religious:  for  Israel'.-  national  joys 
and  sorrows  are  at  once  incorporated  in  his  reli- 
gion, giving  rise  to  leasts  and  fasts  ;  in  ethic.-  it 
will  not  sunder  soul  from  body:  it  will  not  set  this 
life  against  the  next:  this  world  against  another; 
even  in  theology  it  will  not  altogether  sunder  God 
from  the  humors  of  existence,  from  the  comedy 
which  le.ivens  the  creation.  f'nit<i<,  mtitin,  <niiiiiu 

imtfau, 

Will  the  world  ever  outgrow  this  conception  of 
(lod?  Or  will  science  substitute  for  it  an  imper- 
sonal, unconscious  force  guiding  and  directing  the 
life  and  de.-tiny  of  man?  As  the  human  mind  is 
constituted,  we  can  conceive  of  no  higher  view  of 
the  principle  of  cause  ami  effect  than  the  Jewish 


THE    PROFESSION   OF   JUDAISM.  49 

postulate  :  One  God,  the  Creator  of  all.  Before  this 
God  of  the  universe  the  mind  bends  in  adoration,  for 
it  feels  its  kinship  with  Him.  It  knows  itself  to  be 
a  part  of  this  great  life  of  God.  For  this  God,  so 
Judaism  teaches,  is  not  an  abstraction  dwelling  in 
some  remote  part  of  the  universe ;  His  temple  the 
human  mind  ;  His  sanctuary  the  human  heart;  His 
seat  of  glory  the  soul  of  man.  No  inseparable  gulf 
yawns  between  God  and  man:  God  the  Creator, 
man  the  creature ;  God  the  Father,  man  the  child  ; 
God  the  King  and  Sovereign,  man  the  subject  and 
servant.  "God  dwelling  in  man,"  what  does  it 
mean  ?  It  means  to  make  man's  life  divine,  to  lift 
from  the  dust  the  lowly,  to  crown  him  prince  of 
creation  ;  it  sanctifies  his  life  by  making  it  a  part 
of  the  divine  life,  and  thus  blending  dust  with 
Deity  plant  heaven  on  the  earth.  In  a  word,  God 
revealing  Himself  to  man  in  order  that  man  may 
lead  a  moral  life.  Ethics  is  the  purpose  of  religion — 
sanctity  the  outcome  of  the  fear  of  God. 

Every  religion  is  judged  by  its  code  of  ethics. 
Israel  need  not  fear  to  stand  this  test,  for  if  sifted  to 
its  very  root,  Judaism  is  by  its  very  nature  an  ethical 
movement.  It  sprang  into  existence  in  opposition 
to  the  immoral  practices  of  the  religions  around  it. 
The  very  first  call  to  Abraham  and  the  promise 
that  he  shall  be  a  blessing,  is  based  on  the 
assurance  that  he  will  teach  the  way  of  God  to 
his  children  and  to  his  household,  to  do  justice  and 
righteousness.  What  are  the  requirements  of  true 
religion?  asks  the  Psalmist :  "Who  shall  ascend 
the  hill  of  the  Lord,  who  shall  stand  in  His  holy 


50  THE    PROFESSION   OF   JUDAISM. 

place?  He  who  has  clean  hands  and  a  pure 
heart."  Or  listen  to  the  Prophet's  creed,  "Where- 
with shall  I  come  before  the  Lord?  bow  myself 
before  the  Most  High?  fie  has  told  thee,  Oman, 
what  is  good,  and  what  God  requires  of  thee:  to 
do  justly,  to  love  virtue,  to  walk  humbly  with  thy 
God.  " 

Study  the  history  of  Israel.  The  stages  of  his 
growth  are  the  mile-stones  of  his  moral  development: 
intertwined  and  interwoven  with  his  political  life  is 
the  growth  of  his  ethical  ideas.  Even  his  ceremonial 
laws  and  precepts  were  but  symbolical  of  moral 
obligation.  The  morality  of  Judaism  has  often  been 
contrasted  with  that  of  Christianity  and  declared  to 
be  on  a  lower  level,  and  resting  on  selfish  motives. 
If  there  be  traces  in  the  Old  Testament  and  Tal- 
mudic  teachings  of  a  doctrine  that  makes  reward  the 
incentive  of  a  moral  act,  the  whole  life  of  Israel  is 
a  refutation  of  this  charge.  For  a  whole  nation, 
during  hundreds  of  years,  to  pursue  a  path  of  duty 
in  the  face  of  almost  insurmountable  difficulties,  t<> 
bear  the  persecution  of  the  world  and  suffer  unparal- 
leled martyrdom,  does  not  betray  a  selfish  nature 
swayed  by  mercenary  motives.  The  love  of  Cod  and 
the  love  of  virtue  did  not  bring  to  the  Jew  the  com- 
pensation craved  and  promised. 

For,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  rewards  men- 
tioned in  the  Old  Testament  have  reference  to  this 
life  on  earth  only,  to  temporal  happiness  and  well- 
being,  to  the  permanence  of  national  life:  there  is 
no  allusion  to  celestial  rewards,  to  heavenly  ban- 
quets, enlivened  by  angelic  music.  Yet  in  the  face 


THE   PROFESSION    OF   JUDAISM.  51 

of  facts,  what  were  the  rewards  of  the  Jew  for  his 
faithfulness  and  his  virtue  ?  If  he  did  not  crave 
heaven,  he  certainly  did  not  win  the  earth ;  the  joys 
and  pleasures  of  the  world  were  not  his  share.  Nor  is 
the  charge  of  inadequate  morality  true  even  if  judged 
hy  the  current  of  his  literature.  The  present  gen- 
eration of  high-minded  Christians  would  declare  it  a 
misstatement  of  facts  were  their  morality  to  be 
judged  by  the  standard  of  the  New  Testament  only, 
or  by  the  practices  of  the  mediaeval  church.  They 
claim  progress,  not  only  in  thought,  but  also  in 
morals.  Does  not  the  same  law  hold  good  for  us  ? 
Has  Israel  not  progressed  ethically  as  well  as  intel- 
lectually since  the  last  two  thousand  years  ?  The 
Talmud,  that  oft  maligned  book,  is  full  of  passages 
breathing  the  most  unselfish  morality  : — "Be  not  like 
hired  servants  that  work  for  reward.  Be,  rather, 
like  slaves  that  serve  their  master  without  thought 
of  compensation."  And  another  rabbi  said, — "The 
reward  of  a  good  deed  is  another  good  deed,  and  one 
virtue  brings  another  in  its  wake:  and  the  punish- 
ment of  sin  is  sin."  Is  this  not  a  higher  standard 
of  virtue  than  the  leering  glance  toward  a  crown  in 
heaven  ?  To  do  good  because  God  commanded  it,  is 
a  nobler  incentive  than  to  do  God's  command  in 
order  to  save  one's  soul.  Whether  the  soul  of  man 
is  immortal  or  not,  is  a  matter  of  theological  specu- 
lation and  faith  :  with  the  Jew  it  never  enters  as  a 
motive  of  morality.  As  God  is  merciful  and  kind 
to  His  creatures  out  of  His  infinite  love  and  com- 
passion for  them,  so  must  man  fulfil  the  moral 
behest  out  of  his  deep  love  for  God — for  God's 


Oli  THE    PROFESSION    OF   Jl'IUISM. 

sake,  and  not  for  his  own  sake, — neither  here  nor 
hereafter, — shall  man  love  virtue  and  practice 
it.  This  theory  of  ethics  has  been  fully  ex- 
emplified in  the  life  of  Israel.  His  morality 
has  not  been  closed  up  in  a  book  and  read 
as  devotional  literature  on  the  Sabbath  Day 
while  the  week  days  testify  to  a  dillerent  sys- 
tem ;  but  his  whole  life  was  permeated  by  the 
feeling-  of  moral  obligation,  to  do  the  will  of  his 
Heavenly  Father.  Tbat  will  is  a  righteous,  just  and 
holy  one,  which  does  not  demand  of  man  anything 
that  is  unreasonable,  unjust  or  unholy. 

And  what  is  the  purpose,  the  aim  and  goal  of  this 
morality?  Wbat  the  higher  plan  of  Israel's  holi- 
ness? Does  obedience  to  the  will  of  (!od  and  carry- 
ing out  His  behests  close  the  circle  of  man's  duties? 
No  one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  history  and 
literature  of  Israel  will  charge  him  with  such  narrow 
view.  As  to  Abraham,  so  to  the  whole  people,  the 
promise  applies — "I  shall  bless  thee  in  order  that 
thou  shalt  become  a  blessing/'  The  moral  life  of 
Israel,  his  entire  ethical  rod< — yea.  his  whole  his- 
tory,— it  is  a  preparation,  yet  not  a  preparation  for 
Christianity,  but  for  Humanity.  The  way  out  of 
Judaism  leads  not  into  any  sectarian  faith,  but  into 
a  larger  life  which  includes  all  men  and  all  faiths. 
And  here  \ve  strike  the  major  key  of  Israel's  Mission 
— '"Israel.  The  servant  of  (iod."  means  "Israel  the 
servant  of  humanity."  The  theme,  "The  Mis-ion 
of  Israel"  has  often  been  derided  and  ridiculed  as  the 
preMimption  of  arrogance,  the  vaunt  of  impotence. 


THE   PROFESSION   OF   JUDAISM.  53 

If  it  be  possible  to  represent  to  our  minds  the  his- 
tory of  mankind  without  the  presence  of  Israel  and 
the  contribution  which  this  people  has  made  to 
the  wealth  of  the  world  ;  if  it  is  possible  to  construe 
the  course  of  events  in  a  manner  as  to  leave  out  the 
currents  and  influences  emanating  from  Palestine  :  it 
certainly  transcends  human  imagination  to  picture 
the  state  of  society  today  depleted  of  the  spiritual 
and  moral  elements  derived  from  the  treasury  of 
Israel's  thought.  If  the  Jew  had  rendered  to  the 
world  no  other  service  than  to  have  given  it  that 
great  book,  the  Bible,  written  with  his  heart  blood, 
punctuated  with  his  great  national  experiences,  em- 
phasized by  the  soul-hunger  of  his  noblest  sons,  and 
sealed  in  the  dungeon  and  on  the  scaffold  with  the 
last  breath  of  the  dying  martyr — this  alone  would 
entitle  him  to  the  gratitude  of  all  coming  genera- 
tions. But  he  has  done  more.  He  has  given  to 
civilized  nations  two  religions  which  have  become 
sources  of  salvation,  remodeling  their  national  char- 
acter. For  in  this  lies  his  secret  of  strength,  that 
Israel  is  more  than  a  religion,  more  than  a  theologi- 
cal system,  that  it  is  a  social  force,  a  national 
corrective.  If  Feuerbach's  dictum  be  true,  that  all 
religion  is  Anthropology  (that  is,  the  study  of  man), 
it  is  still  more  so  in  regard  to  Judaism.  It  is  not 
only  Anthropology,  it  is  Sociology.  It  is  an  at- 
tempt, and  a  successful  attempt,  to  regulate  the 
relation  of  man  to  brother-man,  of  nation  to  nation. 
That  all  men  are  born  equal ;  that  they  stand  on  a 
level  before  God  and  before  the  civil  law;  that 
they  ought  to  have  an  equal  share  and  opportunity 


54  THE   PROFESSION    OF  JUDAISM. 

in  the  field  of  toil;  that  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor, 
learned  and  ignorant,  priest  and  layman,  stand  in 
the  closest  inter-relation  and  inter-dependence  with 
one  another,  and  are  equally  accountable  for  their 
actions  before  the  moral  law;  in  a  word,  a  Common 
Humanity, —  this  truth  did  not  wait  for  the  eigh- 
teenth century  savants  to  announce  it  to  the  world  ; 
it  was  the  foundation  of  Israel's  commonwealth, 
the  life  principle  in  Israel's  history.  It  made 
possible  the  survival  of  the  Jewish  people  during 
centuries  of  persecution.  His  very  suffering  for 
the  sake  of  liberty  of  conscience,  his  frugality, 
his  thrift,  his  commercial  circumspection,  his 
inter-nationalism,  his  freedom  from  theological 
bias  and  dogmatic  bickering,  made  him  a  valuable 
Instalment  in  the  service  of  mankind,  enabled  him 
everywhere  to  become  the  teacher  and  the  inspirer 
of  a  larger  and  broader  society  than  existed  around 
about  him.  Is  it  mere  accident  that  during  the 
middle  ages,  up  to.  within  recent  time,  the  Jews  were 
the  bankers,  the  physicians  and  often  the  states- 
men of  Christian  and  Mohammedan  nations ; 
that  Jewish  philosophers  in  the  persons  of  Dm 
Gabirol,  Maimonidcs.  Spino/.a.  Mendelsohn,  gave 
impetus  to  new  thought;  that  Marx  and  La 
Salic,  both  Jews,  were  the  fathers  of  modern  social- 
ism;  and  that  the  latent  Keligio-Kthical  movement 
has  been  inaugurated  by  a  Rabbi's  son?  The 
most  powerful  book  of  today,  the  latest  addition  to 
sociological  literature,  is  the  product  of  the  .lew, 
Max  N'ordau.  This  seems  to  be  the  tendency  and 
the  drift  of  the  .Jewish  mind — the  prophetic  spirit  of 


THE   PROFESSION    OF   JUDAISM.  OO 

old  revived  in  the  latest  descendants,  seeking  to 
readjust  and  rearrange  the  distorted  relations  be- 
tween man  and  man.  If  out  of  the  chaos  and  con- 
fusion of  the  present,  there  should  arise  a  new  form  of 
faith  that  shall  offer  to  mankind  the  bread  of  life  and 
the  water  of  health,  that  new  form  will  not  deny  its 
origin ;  it  will  bear  in  form  and  features  the  sem- 
blance to  Israel,  its  parent.  Israel,  the  Servant  of 
God,  Israel,  the  Servant  of  Humanity,  is  yet  to 
become  the  Messiah  of  mankind,  bringing  the  new 
message  of  social  regeneration,  of  moral  re-birth, 
of  spiritual  unity. 

^Yill  you  now  ask  :  What  is  Judaism  ?  Is  it 
race  ?  Is  it  ritual  ?  Is  it  feast  or  fast  ?  Is  it  lan- 
guage, dead  or  living  ?  Is  it  orthodoxy,  reform  or 
radicalism  ?  Away  with  all  these  petty  distinctions, 
these  belittling  divisions !  Rise  to  the  height  of 
prophetic  outlook.  Judaism  is  Reverence  for  God, 
Love  of  Virtue,  Service  of  Humanity.  Arc  you 
ashamed  of  such  a  religion  ?  Will  you  hold  in  light 
esteem  the  name  that  binds  you  to  such  a  faith  ? 
Shame  on  the  coward  and  the  craven  that  forsakes 
the  flag  which  has  witnessed  these  glorious  battles 
in  the  service  of  God  and  man!  No  more  precious 
heirloom  can  you  bequeath  to  your  children  and 
children's  children  than  this  honorable  name  "Jew  !" 
Live  up  to  your  faith,  sanctify  by  your  life  the 
name  of  the  God  whom  you  profess  and  who,  through 
you  and  your  history,  has  been  working  for  the 
salvation  of  mankind.  Yea,  help  to  bring  nearer 
the  time  when  the  barriers  will  fall,  and  divisions 
will  be  removed,  when  there  will  be  no  distinction 


56  THE   PROFESSION    OF   JUDAISM. 

between  Jew  and  non-Jew,  but  all  men  be  known 
and  recognized  as  children  of  God,  exclaiming 
with  us  the  inspiring  words  of  our  confession : 
"Hear,  0  Israel,  thy  God  is  my  God,  thy  people 
is  my  people.  Hear,  O  Israel,  the  Eternal  is  our 
God,  the  Eternal  is  One."  Amen. 


OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 


